Katy School District Announces Layoffs

Letters went out saying 500 teachers and 50 administrative employees will lose their jobs because of state budget cuts.

The Legislature is drastically cutting money to schools. Katy ISD could lose as much as $62 million in next year’s budget.

Katy ISD employs more than 4,000 teachers for the 60,000 students who attend Katy schools.

The proposed job cuts amount to a loss of more than 12 percent of the teaching staff.

The Katy school board said it has not yet decided who will go and who will stay.

“Those discussions are happening right now with our (Human Resources) department, campus principals. They are making those decisions this week as we speak. No one has been notified yet. Those notifications will come later,” said Steve Stanford with the Katy Independent School District.

Along with the layoffs, cuts are likely in some programs, but the specifics have not yet been decided, officials said.

District officials set up an online survey to ask parents to prioritize programs they want to keep.

Several other school districts have also announced layoffs — Fort Bend, Houston, Pasadena and Magnolia.

The budget bill now working its way through the state Legislature calls for a $10 billion reduction statewide in education funding.

From: Click 2 Houston